So obviously to keep me upright.
In his own daze, this went unnoticed by my dad, the man playing over the information himself behind his eyes. With this new info, I just knew he’d resist. He’d fight even more on top of his issues with Royal.
Dad dampened his lips, but broke out of his haze at a nudge to his shin. Hershey was trying to get his attention, nudging him. Getting on her hind legs, she pressed paws to his leg, and my dad hunkered down, picking her up. Dad’s jaw tightened. “So if I make a call to the school… forty-eight hours would be good for a trip?”
I stared up, to his eyes. He was serious, and just as much as he stood there before us.
Removing his hand from my arm, Royal placed his together. “I believe that would be appropriate. If it takes any longer…”
“I’ll text,” I came in with.
Dad swallowed. “You’ll call.”
“I’ll call.” The least I could do with him being so cool about this, taking Hershey.
With a nod, Dad cleared the doorframe for us, and Royal, the gentleman he was, took my bag off my shoulder. He gave Hershey a little pat, and after I did too, the pair of us passed my dad. Dad followed us into the foyer, watching on as Royal opened the door for me.
“Make sure you take care of her, Royal.”
Royal turned at the door, lifting his chin. “Will do, sir. I’ll take real good care. I promise.” Royal started to go but faced Dad again after stepping a foot outside. “That’s a nice ride you have out there. Is it new?”
I hadn’t noticed Dad pull up in anything different but when I gazed outside to the driveway a sparkling blue Aston Martin was parked next to Royal’s sleek Audi. It must have been new. I’d never seen it.
Dad cradled Hershey. “It is new, but it’s going back. It’s a gift, but I’m not accepting it.”
Must have been a good friend to give him something so nice. I faced Dad and noticed he exchanged a glanced with Royal, but Royal didn’t give much acknowledgment to it. Instead, Royal asked me if I was ready, and since I was, I started to follow him out. Dad touched my arm, but before I could speak on that, he slid something out of his pocket and into the purse on my arm.
“For protection,” he said. “Use it if you need to.”
Royal had stopped at the base of the house’s steps, but I didn’t think he’d heard Dad. Royal was waiting there, idle with my bag in his hands, and I looked at my dad. “I’ll be fine. You don’t need to worry.”
My words didn’t do anything really to console him, and I saw that just as easily as the worry on his face. He was letting me go with this boy he didn’t trust, but that didn’t mean he liked it.
Three
December
“Your dad really cares about you.”
I brought my gaze up from the pepper spray Dad had not so discretely put in my bag. I pulled it out. “I guess this means he cares.”
This had Royal smiling, like seriously grinning. Reaching over, he threaded long fingers with mine. He kissed the back of my hand. “I promise not to give you a reason to use that.”
I knew he wouldn’t give me one, the only reason I showed him. I could take Royal Prinze, let him come at me, and I’d come right back. I had before.
Smiling a little myself, I put the pepper spray back in my purse. Settling in, I took Royal’s hand and placed it with mine onto my lap, more at peace than I should be considering where we were going. I hadn’t gone with my dad to identify my sister’s body last fall. He’d done that all on his own.
“Why are we going there?” I asked. “Corrington Meadows? You didn’t tell me that.”
He played with my fingers as he navigated the road. We’d been driving for a while, the world dark on a highway lined with cornfields on both sides. This was the beauty of living in the Midwest, natural landscape always around. He frowned at the road. “That’s just where we have to go for this. What we’re about to do.”
“Which is?”
A tongue ran over his full lips. He faced me. “This isn’t something I can really explain to you. I could but…” His gaze shifted to the road, his eyes creasing hard. “I think it’s best we go there and you find out everything that way. Believe me. I wish we were going anywhere else.”
The terror rising inside me, I sat up. “But why? Royal…”
Gold lashes flashed in my direction, and because he most likely saw the panic in my eyes, he kissed the back of my hand again. Without words, he let go and reached behind the seats, pulling out a blanket. After working it around me, he pushed an arm around my shoulders, bringing me into his chest while he drove.
“Just sleep, okay?” he requested, bringing me closer and kissing the top of my head. He gazed back on the road. “Give yourself just one more night, one more before everything changes.”
How could everything change even more than it already had? The prospect of that embedded more fear, and lifting the arm rest, I settled in under Royal’s arm. I’d try to sleep. But I had a feeling that wouldn’t be any easier than anything else I had to deal with since coming to Maywood Heights.
*
“Dad says you’re out of town?” Aunt Celeste referring to my dad as anything other than a phrase laced with disdain was new. She usually referred to my dad as “Rowan” or my father.
Turning in the hallway, I stared into the diner. Royal stopped us for breakfast after a quick night in a motel. I’d pretty much woken up there, most likely carried, as eventually I had fallen asleep in the car.
The beautiful boy I traveled with currently sat at our table, drinking a cup of coffee and only that. He’d turned down food completely, pretty much just watching me eat.
Like he knew he was being thought about, Royal panned toward me, his smile small as he lifted a hand in my direction. He looked delicious in his T-shirt and jeans, always did.
I pushed hair behind my ear, putting my back to him. The call came to my phone after leaving the bathroom. “Yeah, we’re in Corrington Meadows.”
When my aunt called, I’d been surprised with my desire to pick up. Maybe I’d just needed some semblance of strength. I’d yet to know what I would be shown today.
“That’s what he said,” Aunt Celeste said, the clang and chatter of the diner full steam ahead. Corrington Meadows managed to be an even smaller town than Maywood Heights, nothing but small shops and farmland. It was like a mini version of the town I knew, even more sleepy. The diner was the busiest I’d seen the town at all since arriving here. Aunt C. breathed heavy into the phone. “Well, come back soon, safe. I plan to come into town and see you soon.”
I stared at my worn Converse. “Yeah? Why?”
“Just to see you, love. I can’t get there right away. Have to make some arrangements at work, but your dad told me any time is fine. He’s agreed to put me up.”
That sounded exactly like World War III in the making and nothing my dad would normally agree to. Maybe he was worried about me or something, how weird he’d been acting before I left…
I folded my arms. “I don’t need you to do that.”